LISTEN LIVE ON TUNE IN RADIO

TWITTER UPDATE

January 07, 2018

Audio: Fershee takes on Sessions over marijuana

Kendra Fershee came out swinging this week after AG Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama-era guideline for federal prosecutors to essentially leave marijuana prosecutions alone in states where its use is now legal.

Kendra Fershee, a law professor running in West Virginia's 1st district, a region Trump won by 49 points, recently put out an adarguing that medical marijuana could help end the opioid crisis and bring revenue to the state. Fershee tells me that she intends to "fight for the federal government to get out of the way" of the citizens of West Virginia. (West Virginia became the 29th state to legalize medical marijuana last year). (NBCNews.com)

Fershee is a WVU law professor and working mom. She's eyeing the Democratic nomination for the congressional seat currently held by Republican Dave McKinley (former Orrick CEO Ralph Baxter also on the dem primary ticket). She was a guest this week on The Watchdog Morning Show.

Among the headlines from our talk:

"The number one issue in WV" is the opioid epidemic. She calls it a "crisis, an emergency, a tsunami" and thinks it needs to be attacked by both dealing with the immediate issue of those addicted now and also looking at root causes of the addiction to begin with. She's a strong proponent of legalizing medical marijuana at the federal level.

She says "freedom" is a concept that has been co-opted by conservatives to mean "I got my stuff, leave me alone", while she believes in a democratic republic "you can't live free in a free country without a team effort".

She would not have voted for the recent tax reform bill saying it was too weighted to benefit the top income tiers and not average West Virginians.

She supports universal health care.

Fresh calls herself a "progressive democrat with the emphasis on progress" and thinks that as a woman and a mother she can bring a different perspective to the job than we have had in the past.

But Fershee will be battling the big stumbling block for all newcomers to politics: money. Admitting she doesn't have support from organized groups, she's working a grassroots campaign--asking for contributions one person at a time. With McKinley able to tap into huge cash from the GOP and supportive 3rd parties, this is the issue Fershee needs to find a way around.